Effects of planetesimal impacts
News •
During its accretion, Earth is thought to have been shock-heated by the impacts of meteorite-size bodies and larger planetesimals. For a meteorite collision, the heating is concentrated near the surface where the impact occurs, which allows the heat to radiate back into space. A planetesimal, however, can penetrate sufficiently deeply on impact to produce heating well beneath the surface. In addition, the debris formed on impact can blanket the planetary surface, which helps to retain heat inside the planet. Some scientists have suggested that, in this way, Earth may have become hot enough to begin melting after growing to less than 15 percent of its final volume.
Among the planetesimals striking the forming Earth, at least one is considered to have been comparable in size to Mars. Although the details are not well understood, there is good evidence that the impact of such a large planetesimal created the Moon. Among the more persuasive indications is that the relative abundances of many trace elements in rocks from the Moon are close to the values obtained for Earth’s mantle. Unless this is a fortuitous coincidence, it points to the Moon having been derived from the mantle. Computer simulations have shown that a glancing collision of a Mars-size planetary body could have been sufficient to excavate from Earth’s interior the material that would form the Moon. Again, the evidence for such large collisions suggests that Earth was very effectively heated during accretion.
It is apparent, then, that many processes contributing to the early development of Earth occurred almost simultaneously, within tens to hundreds of million of years after the Sun was formed. Meteorites and Earth were formed within this time, and the Moon, which has been dated at more than four billion years in age, apparently was formed in the same time period. Simultaneously, Earth’s core was accumulating and may have been completely formed during the planet’s growth period. In addition to the possible accretional heating caused by planetesimal impacts, the sinking of metal to form the core released enough gravitational energy to heat the entire planet by 1,000 K (1,800 °F; 1,000 °C) or more. Thus, once core formation began, Earth’s interior became sufficiently hot to convect. Although it is not known whether or in what form plate tectonics was active at the surface, it seems quite possible that the underlying mantle convection began even before the planet had grown to its final dimensions. Only later in Earth’s development did radioactivity become an important heat source as well.